NAR Social Media Manager – A Concerned Endorsement

I am endorsing Todd Carpenter of Lenderama for the Social Media Manager position for the National Association of REALTORS. His plan is a solid one, and his experience with the RE.net makes him an invaluable resource. However, I am rather concerned for Todd, and I make the endorsement with a good deal of reluctance and … Read more

Observations on Onion Peeling: MLS 5.0, Single Point of Entry, and Revolutions

I’ve been thinking a bit about the whole MLS 5.0 issue ever since Saul Klein’s post appeared. The reactions have been interesting. Greg Swann of BHB was somewhat cool to the idea, as evidenced by the title of his blogpost: The “MLS 5.0″ Manifesto: Everyone working in hi-tech real estate must oppose this vicious plan … Read more

Looking Backward vs. Springing Forward: NAR, Move and Realtor.com

Jonathan Washburn (whom I have named J-Dub, without his permission or approval) of ActiveRain and Localism hath sounded a call to arms for NAR to buy out Move, Inc (NASDAQ: MOVE). J-Dub makes some good points (and the commenters on the thread support him) — namely, that Realtors hate Realtor.com, and that Realtor.com has lost … Read more

From Confusion to Bizarro-Land

The NAR-DOJ settlement is the gift that keeps on giving.  To a blogger at least.  Well, to a blogger that happens to be interested in such an obscure and unimportant topic. 🙂 The latest piece of information is throwing me from confusion directly into bizarro-land.  NAR released a “Special Report” in which it announced that … Read more

I Think Jeff Jarvis Is in for a Shock…

The NAR-DOJ Settlement is news outside of our little RE.net corner of the blogosphere.  One of the grand poobahs of the blogosphere, Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine, exults in a post entitled, “Take That, 6 Percenters!”.  Why, he’s positively leaping with joy: The monopolistic hold big real estate agents have had on information — on access … Read more

The NAR-DOJ Settlement: Journey from Chaos to Confusion

I’m seriously up to my eyeballs in my dayjob (plus, I have to go to my second job of raising two little boys under the age of three after my dayjob — this second job is a LOT HARDER than my dayjob, I have to say…) but I had to emerge and say a word … Read more

If Yer Gonna Raise the Bar, Then Raise the Whole Saloon

Interestingly enough, just after I wrote about the problem of too many real estate agents overall, I found a post by Dave Phillips over at Bloodhound Blog called “Raising the Bar or Bellying Up to It“. It’s insightful and hilarious. Recommended reading for sure. I’m thinking, what’s all this Sam Adams reference? This is no … Read more

I Hate to Beat Up On NAR But…

Really, I have no axe to grind against the National Association of Realtors. I suspect that I would like most of the individuals who work there, and I admire them for many things. The Center for Realtor Technology is a good example of things I admire about NAR. But they make it so easy to … Read more

NAR Jumps Into The Commercial Fray

This is big news that portends intensely amusing times ahead: A National Association of Realtors tech incubator company has acquired a commercial real estate data exchange company and plans to use its technology to launch a national commercial real estate listing and transaction platform in May. Second Century Ventures LLC, a private equity fund established … Read more